Harmonizing Flow Elixirs (Heshun Dan)

Description

Maintaining the stomach/spleen system is extremely important for both overall health and for internal arts cultivation. We derive so much of our energy from the food that we eat—we need our stomach/spleen in top shape to do that. If digestion is impaired, we also can’t gain maximum benefit from other herbs as well. Dampness is the enemy of the spleen. Modern diet and lifestyle leads to excessive dampness and many habits that we have in the west (dietary and other) are particularly prone to creating excess dampness in the body.

Dampness can manifest as many symptoms and can also eventually lead to many serious diseases. Some common symptoms may include: poor digestion, excessive dandruff, oily hair, hair loss, under-eye bags, facial spots and acne (stomach fire), dull, yellowish, oily complexion, thick and sticky tongue coating, teeth marks on the edges of the tongue, feeling groggy, tired, and lethargic upon waking, poor appetite, bloating, puffy and swollen, large belly, weight gain and bloating, cold hands and feet, excessive sweating, chronic constipation, sticky, unformed stools.

Heshun Dan pills address this problem and an greatly improve the functioning of the spleen/stomach (generally considered the second or third step in the five step sequence for yangsheng as described in the Yellow Emperor’s Classic, after eliminating stagnation). They are big chewy pills with a nutty-medicinal taste. They are basically a modified Ba Zhen (Eight Treasures) formula in the form of a snack-like pill.

Some of the primary ingredients include:

Fuling, qianshi, biandou, lianzi, baihe, yimi, shanyao, ji nei jin, maiya, gu ya, renshen, fengmi

My neidan teacher developed and fine-tuned this recipe together with Daoist doctors from the Zhongnan Mountains. These are better than many popular formulas on the market that rely on red bean (hong dou) and coix seeds (yimi) (often not prepared properly) that only focus on eliminating dampness but not on also strengthening the spleen.

Directions for use:

Take 1-2 on an empty stomach in the morning.

Not suitable for:

People with excessive internal heat (indicated by the presence of two simultaneous symptoms: a red or purple tongue and dry stools)